Democracy and Constitutionalism Cover Image

Demokratija i konstitucionalizam
Democracy and Constitutionalism

Author(s): Milorad Stupar
Subject(s): Politics / Political Sciences, Politics, Political Theory, Politics and society
Published by: Univerzitet Donja Gorica
Keywords: democracy; proceduralism; deliberative democracy

Summary/Abstract: This paper is a critical examination of an attempt to use the idea of deliberative democracy in resolving the conflict between proceduralism i substantivism in constitutional legal theory. The essence of this attempt is in the belief that reasoned argument is possible and that from it may flow a democratic outcome for reasonable people otherwise divided by their adherence to different religious and moral teachings. This paper discusses the attempt by Gutmann and Thompson presented in their book Democracy and Disagreement, which assumes that deep moral divisions are a permanent mark of modern societies. There is in the deliberative procedure, according to Gutmann and Thompson, a ‘dynamic interacton’ between procedure and outcome, i. e. between the principles which determine the procedure and the principles which represent the content of constitutional norms, whereby the paradox of constitutional democracy is overcome because the content of the deliberative outcome is determined both by the procedure which is an expression of the will of the people and by constitutional checks which are an expression of universal moral norms. The remaining problems are those pertaining to practical application of the deliberative model of democracy.

  • Issue Year: 2015
  • Issue No: 1
  • Page Range: 75-88
  • Page Count: 14
  • Language: Serbian